Brendan O'Neill is editor of the online magazine spiked and is a columnist for the Big Issue in London and The Australian in, er, Australia. His satire on environmentalism, Can I Recycle My Granny and 39 Other Eco-Dilemmas, is published by Hodder & Stoughton. He doesn't
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Pirate Bay users who expect instant access to everything are like an online army of annoying Veruca Salts

Having said that, though, there is also little to celebrate in what we might call “the Pirate Bay outlook” – the modern belief amongst web-users, particularly younger ones, that they should have instant access to absolutely everything, even stuff they haven’t paid for. The modern disregard for copyright isn’t actually radical; rather it springs from a kind of Veruca Salt mentality, where many believe that as soon as they stamp their feet, or rather click their mouses, they should have access to a work of art or entertainment created by other people. The thing that really drives illegal file-sharing and the circumvention of copyright laws is not a desire for complete openness and liberty in all matters artistic, so much as a teenage expectation that we should have everything we want RIGHT NOW.

Some in the pro-filesharing lobby wear t-shirts saying “F*** copyright”. The Pirate Bay users tweeting furiously about the High Court’s decision are saying things like, “blocking the Pirate Bay is like blocking a river with a single stone. You can’t stop the free flow.” The assumption amongst many internet users seems to be that nothing should come with a cost, that every movie or song should be mine, instantly, simply because I want it. This is a profoundly anti-social attitude. Works of art and entertainment are increasingly treated as mere freebie consumer products that can be lapped up by all and sundry rather than what they truly are – social creations, whose creators can legitimately expect to be rewarded and credited for their efforts. The real impetus behind widespread copyright-flouting is not a libertarian instinct so much as an anti-social, spoilt-brat one, with bedroom-bound web-users showing scant regard for the work and time of artists, producers and distributors.

Yes, the copyright laws could do with being reformed. And yes, the emphasis should always be on finding ways to make art and entertainment (especially seriously artistic material) accessible to as many people as possible. But working towards such reform is a very different thing from simply assuming that all stuff should be free and available on my computer whenever I damn well want it. There is little to celebrate in the High Court’s course of action against Pirate Bay – but there is also little to celebrate in the emergence in recent years of an army of online brats who believe the instant gratification of their entertainment needs should take precedence over the rights of artists.